I agree with Heath and colleagues that the statement about marketing raloxifene for women at risk for breast cancer is a factual error. Raloxifene is indicated for prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at risk for bone loss. The other comments about fracture risk represent new information; the statement in the Update is not an error.

After our Update was submitted, presentations at the European Congress on Osteoporosis (September 1998) and a joint meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the International Bone and Mineral Society (December 1998) reported that raloxifene is effective in reducing vertebral fractures (1, 2). These data are encouraging, and clinicians await publication of the placebo-controlled clinical trial from which these data originate.